In June, Tellus Petroleum signed an agreement with BASF subsidiary Wintershall to acquire 20% stake in the Knarr field, 15% in Maria, 6.5% in Ivar Aasen and 4.5% in Veslefrikk, all of which are located on the Norwegian continental shelf.
The deal also included equity stakes in seven exploration licenses located in the vicinity of the Knarr, Maria and Ivar Aasen fields and in the Barents Sea.
Additional assets considered for acquisition included 3.87% stake in the Utsira High Gas Pipeline, 2.58% in the Edvard Grieg Oil Pipeline and 20% in the Knarr Gas Pipeline.
As part of the deal, Tellus also agreed to participate in the development of Maria field.
Wintershall has now agreed to release Tellus from its obligations under the sales and purchase agreement, following request from the company.
Reuters cited Tellus Petroleum chief executive Fridtjof Jebsen as saying: "I will not point to a specific factor, but the market situation is challenging right now for oil companies."
Sequa Petroleum is currently reconsidering a deal with Austria-based OMV to purchase 0.6% stake in the Ivar Aasen field for $5.2m.
Tellus Petroleum seeks to acquire a portfolio of interests in small and medium sized producing fields and discoveries on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
Wintershall aims to achieve oil and gas production capacity to 190 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) by 2018.
Image: Wintershall has oil and gas assets offshore Norway. Photo: © Wintershall Holding GmbH.
